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ACLU asks Mass. high court for help on drug lab

BOSTON (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the highest court in Massachusetts to come up with a comprehensive plan for handling thousands of criminal cases tainted by a scandal at a state drug lab.

Chemist Annie Dookhan was sentenced in November to serve at least three years in prison for faking test results and tampering with evidence at the lab.

The ACLU of Massachusetts and the national ACLU on Thursday filed a petition with the state Supreme Judicial Court asking the court to intervene and put in place a "comprehensive remedy" for the people whose cases were handled by Dookhan. The lab was shut down in August 2012 after the extent of Dookhan's misconduct was discovered.

The ACLU said that the court's intervention is needed to clear the records of defendants affected by Dookhan's actions.